The area

If you join us, you will enjoy the opportunity to lead a team, drive projects and enhance the prosperity of the area. You will also be able to live and work in an area that offers so much. The three main towns of Bromsgrove, Kidderminster and Redditch are vibrant retail centres with plenty to see and do from a cultural and lifestyle perspective. Beyond those towns you’ll be able to discover historic market and canal towns such as Bewdley and Stourport-on-Severn, as well as extensive countryside and open space. Throughout the area, housing is accessible and affordable and Worcestershire offers the gateway to the south with easy access to the Cotswolds and further south to Bristol.

Economy

North Worcestershire has a robust and growing economy. Our three principal towns are innovation hubs with a well-earned reputation for producing remarkable start-ups; they also play host to a number of multinational and global firms.

The North Worcestershire economy is also known for its manufacturing expertise. It boasts more than 850 companies working within the production/manufacturing sector, in areas including automotive, low technology and advanced engineering, aerospace, polymers, food, textiles, components, semi-finished and finished goods. Redditch is particularly strong for fabricated metal products and machinery manufacture, whilst Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest are home to a number of food manufacturing businesses.

In addition to more traditional areas of production, the region has produced well-known homegrown brands such as Harris Brush (Bromsgrove), the Head Office of GKN Group (Redditch) including GKN Aerospace, reportedly one of the largest first tier suppliers to the global aviation industry, Brintons Carpets (acquired in 2013 by an American Group) (Kidderminster) and Victoria Carpets (Kidderminster). Morgan Advanced Materials, a high-tech manufacturer of ceramic components in Stourport-on Severn, has established a 'global materials centre of excellence' for structural ceramics materials and applications, serving as a focal point for Research & Development and a hub for academic collaboration with key university faculties worldwide.

North Worcestershire is also a key area for tourism, thanks in large part to the glorious Severn Valley and Wyre Forest, home to major attractions including the West Midlands Safari Park and Severn Valley Railway.

Demographics

BROMSGROVE

Bromsgrove District is in the north of Worcestershire and over 90% of its 217 square kilometres is greenbelt. With 95,768* residents, there are population clusters including Hagley, Rubery and Wythall, with the town of Bromsgrove accounting for just over a third of the total population of the District. Approximately 20% of the population are children and 21% are over 65 years old.

Much of Bromsgrove’s almost fully-employed workforce works outside of the borough (particularly in Birmingham and Redditch). However, the town’s own industrial estates are very popular and provide skilled employment for local people and in-commuters.

When compared to both regional and national statistics a higher percentage of Bromsgrove residents are well qualified and people living in Bromsgrove enjoy the highest median earnings of any district in the West Midlands, including Warwick, Stratford and Solihull.

REDDITCH

The Borough of Redditch is approximately 15 miles south of Birmingham. The Borough has a population of 84,500 with a higher percentage of young people (age 0-15 years) compared with the rest of Worcestershire. There is a very diverse population within the Borough and there are four areas that are within in the top 10% most deprived in England. Despite the dominance of traditional manufacturing companies in the town, Redditch has the fourth-highest number of potential high-growth companies in the West Midlands.Skills levels in Redditch are also rising as a result of the North Worcestershire Employment and Skills Board (ESB), which is working with employers, schools, colleges and other key stakeholders in the town to strengthen the connection between the needs of the area’s employers and skills availability in the available workforce.

WYRE FOREST

Wyre Forest is a district in the north of the county of Worcestershire. It has a population of around 98,000 and consists of large areas of rural countryside, many picturesque villages like Arley, Rock, Chaddesley Corbett and Wolverley and the three main towns of Kidderminster, Bewdley and Stourport-on-Severn. Kidderminster is the employment and service hub of the district with a population of over 55,000 residents, and Stourport-on-Severn, located at the confluence of the rivers Severn and Stour, has a population of around 20,000. Bewdley has a population of around 10,000 and is located on the western bank of the River Severn.